Crown bolster squad with Keo brothers

Metfone Cambodian League champions Phnom Penh Crown yesterday announced the signing of brothers Keo Sokngon and Keo Sokpheng from Boeung Ket Angkor to bolster their squad ahead of the new season which starts in July.

The five-time top flight champions announced that Sokpheng, 23, who has been as a midfielder with Boeung Ket Angkor FC since 2012 and who made an outstanding contribution in the recent SEA Games in Singapore, signed a two-year contract and will wear number 68 for Crown.

His brother Keo Sokngon, who will wear the number 9 jersey, has rejoined Crown after spending three years with the club before a spell in Thailand with Samut Sakhon and then Boeung Ket from 2012.

Sokngon signed a one-season contract with an option to extend.

Sokngon, 25, had played for Crown from 2007-10 and scored 45 goals in 67 appearances.

Both players have represented Cambodia from U16 to senior level, with Sokpheng delighting Cambodian fans with his performances at the SEA Games earlier this month, where he scored three goals.

Crown head coach Sam Schweingruber said: “We are very happy having Sokpheng, one of the best players in Cambodia at this time, join us at our club.

“With such a tough schedule ahead of us, so many games in such a short time period, a bigger squad is essential.

We are therefore very pleased to add two more players,” he added.

Phnom Penh Crown will commence the defence of their title when they play Boeung Ket at their new RSN Stadium in Toul Kork early next month.

Meanwhile, their Metfone Cambodian League rivals Boeung Ket Angkor reached an agreement on Tuesday to sign Nigerian striker Gbenga Ajayi on a one-season contract, according to a club announcement on Facebook.

The arrival of the Nigerian striker, 30, who played for Bangkok Glass United, Chonburi and Samut Sangkhram in the Thai Premier League, will make for a reunion with Boeung Ket manager Ber Makara after they worked together at Phnom Penh Empire (now Phnom Penh Crown) from 2006-8 when Makara was a coach.

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